31 March 2008

Samy Vellu today called for the release of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders held without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA).He will meet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi soon to discuss this matter.He also urged Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy - who is currently in London on self-exile - to return to the country and be reunited with his family, saying that the latter should not be a political refugee.

On the political front, Samy Vellu took the opposition to task over the lack of Indians in their state executive councils.Responding to a question on multiracial politics, the veteran politician said the newly formed state governments should have given the Indians two exco positions."Why only one? he asked.

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Dont you think its a bit too late,Samy Vellu? You should have thought of that earlier when the Indian communities were clamouring for your help. The sudden change of heart, is more like a political "drama minggu ini" to show that you care for the Indians. Pooorraaaah....

Adai..for 30 years you were in the gomen have you ever thought of helping the Indian masses other than thinking of making big bucks? Its rather sickening to see after 4 months, you are asking the gomen to release the Hindraf 5. You wanna play politics again....tambi!! You talk as if you can bent the law and trying to take credit to be the hero of the Indians....pooorraaah....

Your argument on Indian representation in the opposition front also doesnt hold ground coz you are no better when you were in the gomen.

If I equate you to the pot calling the kettle black, people might construed as a bit too rude and offensive but thats what you are, Samy Vellu.

Before you rebuild the ruined MIC please return the monies of shareholders of the defunct Maika Holding to the people you stole from.....

On another note....the BN government introduced a law to disallow resignation in order to seek new mandate. Under that law it penalizes any legislators who resign before their term ends. Anyone who resign will be barred from contesting in election for 5 years. So, do you think these 22 ADUN are going to take that risk?

27 March 2008

The Terengganu's Menteri Besar impasse has finally ended as Pat Lah had agreed with the Sultan's handpicked candidate Ahmad Said for MB, after Pat Lah's brief meeting with the king who is also the Sultan of Terengganu,and an endorsement from UMNO's supreme council. As expected.......

his highness the king stood his ground......

Pat Lah backed down.....

Idris Jusoh lost his "crown".......

and a sigh of relief for the rakyat around.....

Sources reports that three ADUN including Idris Jusoh who lost his 'crown' also lost their datukship. Read here.

Indirectly the king is telling Idris Jusoh to go and fly kite as there is nothing more to forgive and forget.......

Unconfirmed reports also suggest that the Sultan asked Abdullah questions pertaining to the distribution of the Petronas’ RM1 billion wang ehsan through Idris for development in the state.The Sultan is also puzzled why the state remained poor despite the wang ehsan. Off course, Pat Lah and Idris Jusoh has to address this issue sooner or later, and they will be having restless nights ahead as their partnership of crime with the ever conniving SIL,Khairy Jamaluddin, son, Kamaluddin and their crony Patrick Badawi has being exposed in the open......

24 March 2008

Terengganu is an oil producing state of Malaysia, and Pat Lah will do anything within his power to see that the state is ruled by UMNO. Pat Lah wants a Menteri Besar(MB) who will kowtow to his needs, even to the extent that he has to go against the wishes of the Palace. In short Pat Lah need Idris Jusoh badly as MB so that Idris Jusoh will continue to be partners in crime with Pat Lah plundering Terengganu's petroringgit.

Petro-money means alot to Pat Lah and UMNO, since Terengganu has being denied of its oil royalty payment, pending a court case filed by the former PAS government against Petronas. When PAS was in power in 1999, the oil royalty payment, over RM 800 million per year, was no longer given as payment to the Terengganu state government coffer as what the previous Wan Mokhtar's government used to enjoy.

It was changed to "wang ehsan" or gift payment, given by the Federal government to the the representative of its interest in the state. The parties that benefited are the UMNO liasion heads of Terengganu during the PAS rule and later to the UMNO MB, Idris Jusoh and his goons when BN took over in 2004. During the wang ehsan transaction many of these UMNO liasion heads became instant millionaires as a result of mismanagement and misappropriation of the wang ehsan distributions.

Some inside sources are asking the whereabouts of RM 3 billion of the wang ehsan that is still not being used and it is rumoured that about RM580 million of this wang ehsan is being stashed away in Idris Jusoh's oversea bank account. This info was leaked to the istana and from then its history....

When Idris Jusoh became MB, he demanded that the oil royalty be reinstated but to no avail. However, the royalty payments was later put to a different use i.e organizing the Monsoon Cup, that eventually turned out to be an annual event for the rich and famous. The mastermind behind this project is none other then Pat Lah's SIL,Khairy Jamaluddin and his crony businessman friend that goes by the name of Patrick Badawi who is now purported to be in control of the oil money? Patrick Badawi is too powerful and could insist on any projects he wants in the state without going thru proper channel or procedure, making Idris Jusoh look like a fool or a lame duck MB. This infuriated the istana as its petroringgit is being gobbled by Pat Lah's cronies while the poor rakyat suffers in pain. Read here , here,here and here.

Sensing that Idris Jusoh is only a pawn in Pat Lah and Patrick Badawi's cunning game of intrigue and deceit, the istana decided that a new MB should be appointed to replace Idris Jusoh.The same happened in Perlis when Shahidan Kassim was quietly asked to leave. But the only difference is that Shahidan Kassim didnt get enough support from the Perlis ADUN, while Idris Jusoh has the backing of 22 ADUN. Probably these ADUN are indebted to Idris Jusoh for the many thing Idris Jusoh has done for them. To make sure that these obligations are not cut off, the 22 ADUN got to make sure that Idris Jusoh gets the MB post with the full backing from Pat Lah and Patrick Badawi.

The istana is bent on appointing Ahmad Said as MB but for Pat Lah to sack him from UMNO, on the very day of his appointment as a move to stop him from becoming MB shows that Pat Lah and UMNO puts their own interest above the rakyat of Terengganu.

According to Pat Lah, should Ahmad be sworn in as MB, it would be "unconstitutional". Constitution expert Prof Abdul Aziz Bari pointed out the appointment of Ahmad, depending on the contents of the letter issued by the palace, was effective. The swearing in ceremony and all other rituals, in his opinion, are just there to clothe the decision of the palace, he told Malaysiakini. He also said that the unhappy BN assemblymen would have to wait for the first sitting of the assembly in order to pass a motion of no confidence against the party-less Ahmad.

“In such circumstance, the sultan or the regency council would then have to name another person who enjoys the support of the majority of the elected representatives or call for a snap state election,” he said.

He said that although there would be no state government to request for a dissolution, the palace can still call for a state poll based on the sultan's reserve powers.

There seems to be no winner in the current turmoil. While the istana having made a choice of Ahmad Said, only to see him being expelled from UMNO nor there is a possibilty of Pat Lah backing down. Revolting against the wishes of a ruler is 'menderhaka'. But its OK for UMNO to do so and Pat Lah is deem to be the next Hang Jebat. Waiting to see Hishamuddin unsheathing his keris sang saka in defence of ketuanan Melayu...and where is Khairy Jamaluddin & his UMNO youth mat rempit goons when UMNO is threatening the Malay sultanate of Terengganu....read here,here and here.

This stalemate might lead to a fresh elections to be called sooner or later. If so this happens my only wish is to see Idris Jusoh and his UMNO goons get trashed for good.

20 March 2008

Malaysia's former trade minister Rafidah Aziz expressed hurt Wednesday over being dropped from the new post-election cabinet after two decades in the job.

Rafidah said PM Pat Lah had told her of the decision only hours before it was announced, and that she was given no reason for being ousted.

"I wish Pak Lah had told me earlier on not to contest. He allowed me to contest. But I am also a human being," she said, using the prime minister's nickname.

However, the firebrand political veteran put on a brave face over the decision, saying she would now have more time to spend with her family and as head of the ruling party's influential women's wing.

"Thirty two years in government service and 20 years as minister, I am blessed and content," she said.

"I am so happy I served for so long, it's nothing to feel down about."

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Pat Lah would have retained Rafidah as a minister in the gomen if BN had won by a large margin and attained its 2/3 majority in Parliament. However,things didnt work out as expected, BN almost lost, and only with the help of Sabah and Sarawak, BN scrapped thru with a simple majority. A few senior ministers were trounced in their quest, that includes Samy Vellu, Zainuddin Maidin, Shahrizat Jalil, Kayveas, etc., however, what more humiliating is the lost of 5 states and the Federal Territory to the Opposition. Rafidah has been the Wanita chief since 1984, apart for one term from 1996 to 1999 when she lost to Siti Zaharah Sulaiman. For the first time the Wanita wing has no representatives in the cabinet.

Fearing more backlash, Pat Lah played safe by not including the AP queen and 7 other ex-ministers in his 2008 cabinet. Pat Lah feels that these ministers are more of a liability rather than an asset to his gomen. Pat Lah also took this opportunity to exclude many of Najib's men and instead placed a number of Khairy's goon instead, though the SIL wasnt given any cabinet post. This is Pat Lah's "UMNO AGM" cabinet, that is so precisely charted to ensure his victory in the upcoming party election later this year.

Knowing Rafidah, do you think this AP queen is going to take it without a fight? Sharizat Jalil was included at the very last minute after a protest by Wanita UMNO, but only as advisor to her former ministry with ministerial status.

Why did Rafidah decided not to give up her post, though rumours has it that she wanted to resign from her Ketua Wanita post earlier? According to some sources, she is not going to allow Azalina, the Tourism minister or any other Puteri UMNO leaders walk away with the Ketua Wanita post in the upcoming party elections later this year. They have this strained relationship for years and Rafidah thinks that Puteri UMNO is undermining Wanita UMNO's role.

Will Rafidah team up with Mukhriz and Ku Li, as Ku Li has already made his intention to mount a challenge against Pat Lah for the UMNO leadership?

Purged, jailed and humiliated in the late 1990s, Anwar Ibrahim has staged a remarkable comeback at the helm of an opposition insurgency.

By Lorien Holland and George Wehrfritz | NEWSWEEK,Mar 24, 2008 Issue

Anwar Ibrahim takes six calls in quick succession on three different mobile phones. Five days after Malaysia's general election—in which his coalition shocked observers by winning several key states and almost ousting the long-ruling party—he has segued from surprise victor to tireless political operative, ironing out disagreements and building bridges within the still-fractious opposition. Inside his low-key suburban office, tucked several kilometers away from Parliament in leafy Kuala Lumpur, Anwar's sense of purpose—destiny, even—is palpable. "Just listen to what the others have to say. Listen," he tells one caller. "Stay calm, go home and have some dinner, some Panadol, whatever you need," he tells another, adding, "If there are still strong views and you can't solve it, let me handle [it]."

The performance is vintage Anwar: the great conciliator doing what he does best. Barely a decade ago, this was the man who was going to help Asia and the West see eye to eye and bridge the chasm between Islam and other faiths. As Finance minister and then deputy prime minister of Malaysia in the late 1990s, Anwar was heir apparent to the strongman Mahathir Mohammed. But it was always an odd pairing. Mahathir was an angry anti-colonialist, forever railing against the West; he denounced Western pressure for democracy and human rights as cultural imperialism, an affront to more authoritarian "Asian values," and fiercely resisted international attempts to dismantle Malaysia's cozy and corrupt business culture after the Asian financial crisis. Anwar, by contrast, was a proud universalist, a personally pious Muslim who was also a relentless modernizer and whose penchant for quoting Gandhi and declaring the necessity of democracy and economic openness won him international acclaim. In speeches filled with terms like "civil society" and "freedom," Anwar opposed the notion that Asians were somehow destined for repressive rule and sought to turn regional vehicles like ASEAN into forces to promote liberty and justice. This won him widespread adoration—he was named NEWSWEEK's Asian of the Year in 1998—and made him a darling of the Davos set.

But it also led to his downfall. By 1998, Mahathir had had enough of his high-flying deputy, and after Anwar publicly broke with his boss over the response to the Asian financial crisis (which Anwar hoped to use to impose fiscal discipline and dismantle Mahathir's crony system), he was sacked and then jailed on what were widely seen as trumped-up corruption and sodomy charges. "It was a terrible time," Anwar admits in a NEWSWEEK interview, but not one he is not eager to revisit. Asked about Mahathir, over whom he would appear to have scored a historic reversal of fortune, Anwar won't take the bait, dismissing his former patron as old, ill and "not an issue for me … In order to succeed, we have to look beyond him."

Under Malaysian law, Anwar is barred from holding office until April 15. Yet clearly the rising fortunes of his party make him once again a potential prime minister, though this time around his ambitions appear focused solely on Malaysia, not Asia and the world. Asked if he was poised once again to act as a bridge figure between East and West, Anwar embraced that "important role" as one he had been "playing for a long time," but then quickly gave it a distinctly local focus: reassuring both Malays and non-Malays and getting them to work together in his party.

Thanks to widespread disgust with the lackluster performance of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the three-party opposition more than quadrupled its presence in Parliament (going from 20 to 82 seats out of 222), and it now controls five of Malaysia's 13 states. The greater import is clear: even some members of Abdullah's camp are now calling for his resignation, and "Anwar has returned as a major force," says Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

But the opposition still has to parlay those results into effective control. For the moment, Abdullah remains in charge, if barely. Still, the election was a water- shed, the closest the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has come to defeat since independence in 1957. The best Abdullah could say about the drubbing was to call it "democracy at work," and Mahathir, who retired in 2003, called it "shocking"—adding, suggestively, "The Japanese would have committed hara-kiri."

The vote also represented a major challenge to Malaysia's wide-ranging race-based affirmative-action program, which, under Mahathir gave the country's ethnic Malay majority broad preferences over the long-dominant Chinese community in business affairs. Even if the fragile center now holds in Kuala Lumpur, UMNO will soon face unprecedented threats from state governments now controlled by the opposition. Following a pattern discernible elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Anwar and his allies are staging an assault on the cronyism and patronage of old and pledging social justice, openness, transparency, and anticorruption measures.

The new movement is something of a sequel to the failed Reformasi drive of the late 1990s. Launched by Anwar after his ouster in late 1998, it aimed to ignite a "people power" uprising of the sort that had toppled Suharto in Indonesia. But Reformasi fizzled after Anwar's criminal conviction; he ultimately served six years in prison.

Yet Malaysians' desire for change never died. Abdullah, handpicked by Mahathir on the assumption he'd be easy to control, actually took up the reform mantle himself at first, pledging sweeping change during the campaign of 2004. Abdullah vowed to promote moderate Islam to counter creeping fundamentalism, promised an anti-corruption campaign and suggested he might turn back Malaysia's race-based development policies. Voters responded well, especially when, in 2005, he began dismantling massive Mahathir-era infrastructure projects. But the electorate slowly soured on the new leader as scandal and indecisiveness hobbled his administration. "He did not deliver effectively, and Malaysians called him on it," says Welsh.

If anything, the opposition's triumph was even more significant than the raw numbers indicate. Anwar's People's Justice Party grabbed 31 seats—up from just one in 2004—and its victors included his wife and daughter. Opposition candidates dominated in peninsular Malaysia's west coast, seizing the key industrial states of Penang and Selangor. To reach voters, the opposition relied on bloggers, You-Tube and text messages sent to grass-roots organizers via cell phone: common tactics in places like Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea but new to Malaysia. Indeed, they took UMNO and its National Front coalition so much by surprise that the opposition nearly won the election outright. Anwar, for one, thinks it could have; during his NEWSWEEK interview, he hinted at fraud connected to the use of mail-in votes and the Election Commission's last-minute decision to scrap plans to stain the voters' fingers with indelible ink.

The electorate also broke with the race-based voting patterns of old. Malaysia's Chinese and Indian minorities, which make up a quarter and a tenth of the population, respectively, deserted government-allied ethnic parties in favor of Anwar's Justice candidates and those of center-left Democratic Action Party. The rebellion of ethnic Indians was particularly dramatic; many quit the pro-government Malaysian Indian Congress and the MIC's leader even lost his seat. "This is new territory" for the ruling party, says Garry Rodan, director of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. "The [party's] longstanding emphasis on ethnic identity to mask socioeconomic inequalities traversing ethnic groups has much less currency now."

Anwar's coalition deftly managed this feat by playing on one issue that united Malaysians whatever their race, sex or station: dismay at rising prices that have lead to hoarding of some staples like cooking oil. Jeff Ooi, a blogger turned parliamentary candidate, traded on this anger, writing in February that "now that the cost of living has gone up, unhappiness is fermenting." By promising to raise the people's concerns in Parliament, Ooi won a seat in Penang with an impressive 16,000-ballot margin (out of 46,000).

Now the opposition must quickly transform its promises into a cohesive strategy for governing. Given internal divisions, that won't be easy; the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party wants to establish an Islamic state, while the secular, center-left Democratic Action Party wants to abolish pro-Malay preferences. These divisions kept the opposition from uniting during the last election, in 2004. But Anwar and his Justice Party are hoping to provide a bridge; in addition to controlling the most seats, his party sits between its partners on most issues. Anwar himself is working overtime to find common ground, using his charismatic magic on all parties. Before the election, he managed to persuade the three factions to divvy up constituencies so as to avoid splitting the vote, and ever since he's been working his cell phones relentlessly, jawboning allies into submission. Though he lacks a formal position, Anwar hopes to enter Parliament soon: he plans to ask an ally to resign once his legal ban lifts, and then to run for the seat in a by-election.

Any number of things could disrupt his grand plans. His Islamic allies could prove too uncompromising, or Malaysia's economy could deteriorate—something the newly empowered opposition might be blamed for. On the first trading day after the election, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell by almost 10 percent, as investors dumped shares in companies with large government contracts.

Yet if he manages to hold on, Anwar's comeback will offer a powerful lesson on the dangers of complacency for long-ruling parties throughout Asia. The 4 million citizens of neighboring Singapore, for example, are already watching events closely, and comparing UMNO's fate to the city's own dominant political machine. Abdullah's shortcomings—scandals and political indecisiveness—have no obvious equivalents in Singapore. Yet UMNO's surprise setback "holds a lesson" for the city-state, one reader argued in a letter to The Straits Times last week. "Democracy's tool, the vote, is powerful and swift. A government chosen by its people must stay in touch with the ground. An incumbent who holds power for too long" could run into trouble fast if he becomes unresponsive, the writer warned.

That has been Anwar's point since the 1990s. With his nemesis, Mahathir, now reduced to carping from the sidelines, and the government coalition looking shakier than ever before, Anwar has again illustrated the fact that when fed-up citizens demand sweeping change, they can accomplish it. Anwar, of course, still has to turn promises into reality. But he's already made one thing very clear: if anyone can accomplish it, Anwar's the man.

Other articles in the Newsweek 2008 on Anwar and the 12th GE can be read here, here, and here.

This is an interesting article by Terence Fernandez in his Down2Earth column from the Sun......

WHEN I was woken up at 4.30am last Tuesday by an SMS from Norafiza Mahfuz, the public relations officer of the Klang Municipal Council (MPK), it was immediately apparent that this newspaper and I personally had an obligation to produce this article.

But it took a few days. Although it was necessary to record our “debt” to a man whose misdeeds had ironically contributed to our claim to fame and solidified our reputation for “telling it as it is”, this column had to be tempered with compassion and good taste.

It was not going to be an easy assignment, because while one cannot escape the truth, you never “diss” the dead.

But my better and brainier half has a knack for putting things into perspective: “all babies are cute and all dead people are good”.

Yes, Datuk Zakaria Md Deros is gone. He of the Istana Idaman fame; he who purchased low-cost land worth RM1.3 million for RM180,000 under his wife’s name; he who proposed that his son and daughter-in-law join him as councillors at MPK; he who operated an illegal satay house and tore down a business rival’s shed; he who owed RM22,000 in assessment for over 12 years; he who served as a senator while a bankrupt; he who ran an alleged illegal sand-mining business; he who faced over 30 charges from the Companies Commission.

The former Port Klang Assemblyman whose proxy in the recent general election was his daughter-in-law Roselinda Abdul Jamil (who lost to the PKR candidate) was defiant till the last.

His last days were filled with misery as he tried to come to terms with the fact that a state considered to be an Umno stronghold and to a larger extent Port Klang, to which, in his opinion, he had given his all, could be wrested by the opposition.

Traumatised by the loss of the state government to the PKR-DAPPAS coalition, he lamented “Negri kita diambil alih oleh orang asing” (our state has been taken over by outsiders). These were to be among his last words before collapsing and succumbing to a heart attack.

What was unfortunately lost on Zakaria was that the loss of Selangor was partly due to him, as he was after all, the poster boy for the excesses and abuses of those in power. Many called it defiance and sheer arrogance, but his sympathisers say he was just oblivious.

“In his mind, he was doing the right thing and he could not understand what all the fuss over his mansion was about,” said Faizal Abdullah, who quit as an MPK councillor after it was revealed that he too built a bungalow without approval.

Zakaria appeared bewildered as he tearfully thanked the press during a news conference at his home following reports of his unrestrained conduct for “educating me on right and wrong”.

But these, say critics were the words of a seasoned politician who knew exactly what he was doing. This second school of thought was probably a more accurate version of the man.

“I prefer to be called Abang Z,” he told reporters after an audience with the Sultan where he received a royal rebuke and risked being stripped of his Datukship.

Zakaria also evoked fear in almost all who he came in contact with. It was difficult to dig up dirt on his abuses, as many were terrified of co-operating.

When we front-paged a report on him defaulting on his assessment rates, Zakaria paid a visit to MPK and screamed at the staff, assuming that they had leaked the information.

Once, standing on top of the desk of a district officer, Zakaria shouted at the trembling man and forced him to approve a land transfer.

At the MPK, the man was king, dominating council meetings with even council heads cowering in apprehension. He controlled Umno councillors and even told them to walk out of committee meetings if the outcome was not to his liking.

“Buat apa lagi duduk dalam? Keluar semua!” (What more are you sitting in there for? Everyone get out!), he bellowed at one session, before all Umno councillors trotted out.

The only person who stood up to him was Datuk Teh Kim Poo, the Pandamaran assemblyman who also lost in the election. The two would go head-on with Teh challenging projects endorsed by Zakaria.

At the height of the Istana Idaman controversy, of which Teh had been a vocal critic, Klang police quickly took down banners carrying words bordering on racial incitement attacking Teh, the MCA and even the journalists who exposed it – Citizen Nades and yours truly.

It is understood that there is no love lost between Zakaria and Teh, but the two last met three weeks ago, photographed shaking hands at a pre-election function, proving that in politics there are no permanent friends or foes.

But one character who remained an adversary is Sungai Pinang assemblyman Teng Chang Khim of the DAP, who Zakaria slapped in 2000 during a break at the State Assembly, following a heated argument when Zakaria took offence to Teng’s use of the word “haram” when referring to illegal factories.

But whatever one says about Zakaria, for the many whom he had helped, Abang Z was Godsend. From getting job and university placements, housing, land grants and even financing his constituents’ children’s schooling, weddings and paying for funerals, Zakaria was the man who could get things done.

Just one phone call and the entire MPK team was at his doorstep to patch a pothole or tear down his rival’s satay stall.

And he is not one to take “no” for an answer.

“He would thrust the pen into the hand of an officer or minister, push the recommendation letter in their face and to the point of intimidation, would force them to sign it,” said Faizal. “Sain! Sain! Tak payah baca, ini orang saya, you sain aje! Sain! Aku cakap sain!” ( S i g n ! Sign! No need to read, this is my man, you just sign it! Sign! I said sign!)

Even Zakaria was aware of his lack of grace and had confided in a friend: “I am not an educated man. This is the only way I know how to do things”.

But in spite of these so-called limitations, the former railway gatekeeper was considered the most powerful man in Selangor – at one time even tipped to be mentri besar himself.

But he was more effective as “king maker” and contributed – in cash, kind and delegates to ensure his “men” sat in the State Exco and municipal council.

Klang was his own little kingdom with him as Umno chief, his wife Zizah Ngah Wanita Umno head, his son Zainuri Umno Youth chief and Roselinda heading the Puteri wing.

When his excesses came to light, even Prime Minster Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo were reluctant to remove Zakaria, with the PM labelling him “a good leader”.

To those who knew him personally, Zakaria was the jovial, simple Abang Z. A joker, who was the life of the party – generous to his friends, family, constituents, and those who did his bidding.

And he was a die-hard Umno loyalist, even threatening bodily harm to those who wanted to leave the party.

However, to the masses, Zakaria represented all that was wrong with Umno and the previous state government where there were different sets of laws for the well-connected and the ordinary man. And this is where Zakaria unwittingly provided the people with the reasons for bringing him and the state government down.

One must remember that Zakaria was not the only rogue politician. There were many more like him or worse, but the revelations of Zakaria’s misdeeds had inadvertently focused the rakyat’s lenses on those in public office and raised the benchmark on how these officials should conduct themselves; and at the same time compelling their leaders to rein them in.

The sad part of Zakaria’s story is that had he played his cards well and done things by the book, his would have been an inspirational rags-to-riches story.

It is unfortunate that his legacy will be that of the man whose unrestrained behaviour, abuse of the government machinery and exploitation of his position contributed to the fall of Umno in Selangor – the party and state he loved so dearly.

(Terence prays that Zakaria has finally found peace and clarity. He is deputy news editor (special reports & investigations) and is reachable at terence@thesundaily.com)

Umno Youth today decided to pass the buck back to PM Pat Lah regarding action to be taken against its errant youth leader Mukhriz Mahathir.

Following the Umno Youth executive council meeting, the movement’s chief Hishammuddin Hussein said no action will be taken against Mukhriz for writing a letter to Abdullah asking him to step down following the March 8 polls.

He said that Umno Youth has accepted the controversial letter as a personal missive which was leaked out to the general public.

"There are so many other more important issues faced by Umno Youth apart from Mukhriz," he told a press conference.

Last week, Abdullah, who is also Umno president, said he will leave it to Umno Youth and Hishamuddin to handle the matter.

In his March 12 letter, Mukhriz, the son of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, had urged Abdullah to accept responsibility for Barisan Nasional’s disastrous performance in the elections.

Met after the meeting, Mukhriz, who won the Jerlun parliamentary seat, said he sticks to the points raised in his letter.

"We want to become a party which is more relevant and accepted by the people. I am happy that there is room in Umno Youth to voice issues which are not agreed upon (by the others)," he added.

Muhkriz also said he had received many SMSes where “99 percent of which supported his action”.

"I have made my stand clearly before this and I have not changed my mind," he said. - Malaysiakini.

18 March 2008

Pat Lah announced his new cabinet,trimming it from 32 to 27 members, of which more than half featured new faces. He also scrapped the post of parliamentary secretary and dropped big guns such as Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (former International Trade and Industry Minister), Datuk Azmi Khalid (Home Affairs Minister) and Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (Science, Technology and Innovations Minister)and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad(Internal Affairs).

17 March 2008

Alliance needs to prove its ability to govern with prudence and transparency, says Anwar Ibrahim

By Leslie Lopez, South-East Asia Correspondent

“We need to get the state governments in place and quickly show the people that this is not business as usual.” —DATO SERI ANWAR IBRAHIM

ENTERING last week’s election as the wild card in Malaysian politics, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim has emerged from the polls as the politician holding the strongest hand, making him a serious contender for the national leadership.

As government politicians and analysts struggle to make sense of the stunning election results, which denied the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) its two-thirds majority and gave the opposition control of five state assemblies, Dato Seri Anwar is plotting his next moves.

‘We need to get the state governments in place and quickly show the people that this is not business as usual,’ said the 60-year-old politician, who was sacked from government in 1998 and then jailed on corruption charges.

‘We have to show that we can manage with prudence and make procurement policies transparent through tenders,’ he noted, adding that the opposition will demand the same in Parliament of the BN.

The stakes are high for him and the ideologically diverse opposition coalition built around his Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

For the first time in Malaysia’s history, the opposition - which has little experience in governing - will be in charge of five states, several with established industrial bases and robust economies.

Now for the hard part.

PACING the long corridors of his double-storey home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim fields telephone calls from his opposition colleagues, trying to hammer out compromises for new state government positions.

“You think winning the elections is difficult. It is also difficult after winning,”‘ he tells The Straits Times in a wide-ranging interview.

Should it succeed it crafting investment policies that will create jobs and bring an end to the patronage form of government that has characterised past BN administrations, analysts say the opposition alliance could make a credible bid for national power in future polls.

But it won’t be easy, they say.

Apart from PKR, a Malay-dominated multiracial party, the alliance includes the predominantly Chinese and left-leaning Democratic Action Party (DAP). At the other end of the spectrum is Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), which only recently dropped its demand to turn Malaysia into a theocratic state should it come to power.

Dato Seri Anwar played a crucial role in getting the two traditional political foes to set aside their differences to create an unlikely three-way alliance for the election. He acknowledges that forging a middle ground comfortable enough for PAS and the DAP to co-exist will continue to be a challenge.

“Three months ago, I knew that we could easily secure at least one-third of the parliamentary seats. My partners weren’t convinced, but I told them as long as we remain a cohesive force we can deny the BN the two-thirds and get more,” he said.

There is no denying that the Anwar-led opposition can claim credit for shifting the axis of power that has long shaped Malaysia.

The huge electoral setbacks suffered by Umno means that it cannot establish a government on its own.

UMNO, which has long been used to dictating how the government is run, is now weakened, a prospect many analysts fear could stymie decision-making in government.

Dato Seri Anwar’s return to mainstream politics is the latest twist in a political odyssey of one of Malaysia’s most popular and powerful politicians.

In the 1970s, he set up a foundation to tutor poor Malay dropouts and led a 40,000 strong Muslim youth movement called ABIM, which championed Islamic, social and human-rights causes.

The often caustic attacks against the government led him to jail in 1974 for a period of 22 months after he organised demonstrations against national agricultural policies which hurt farmers.

With his growing national stature, Dato Seri Anwar was being actively courted by PAS. But it was former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who in 1981 persuaded the young Anwar to join the ruling party.

Dato Seri Anwar rose quickly through the ranks and in 1991 was appointed to the powerful post of finance minister, and two years later became UMNO’s deputy president, a position which made him a clear successor to Tun Dr. Mahathir.

But the partnership came unstuck with the onset of the Asian financial crisis (1997-1998), which resulted in Dato Seri Anwar’s sacking from government and his subsequent imprisonment.

Looking a little rested from a punishing two-week campaign, Dato Seri Anwar said the internal bickering in UMNO, which helped the opposition’s election campaign, will also give his coalition time to put its own house in order in the states where it will govern.

He is reluctant to talk about his immediate political plans or his chances of becoming premier.

His aide Khalid Jaffar said his boss is likely to contest a by-election once the prohibition barring him from holding office expires next month. “The big task is to push ahead with this multiracial deal that we are offering Malaysians,” Mr Khalid said.

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Mukhriz's letter [translated from Bahasa Malaysia] that could mend Umno or break his political career.(courtesy of Rocky Bru's blog)

12th March 2008

Dato' Seri,

Let me take this opportunity to thank you and the party's leadership for the faith in me and the chance to contest in Jerlun as a Barisan Nasional candidate. With the blessing and hard work of the party's leadership and machinery as well as the people of Jerlun, I have won the elections and am now a new Member of Parliament.

However, sadly enough, my victory is rendered meaningless in view of the defeat that Umno and the Kedah BN suffered in the hands of the opposition. Apart form Kedah, four other states as well as the Federal Territories also received similar humiliation in defeat.

In fact your own state of Penang was wrested by the DAP from the BN. Kelantan is again under Pas rules. In other states, the BN also suffered a similar humiliation when the level of BN support by the people has tremendously reduced. This, Datuk Seri, has never happened in the history of BN rule.

The sole intention of my letter to you is meant to save UMNO and BN from being rejected further by the people and from being no longer relevant to our religion, race and nation.

Dato' Seri, the people are unhappy and the message from them is very clear, and that is they have rejected you as the nation's chief executive.

Contrary to your claim that you still have the support of Umno and other component parties, the reality is that even our own party members had reneged in their voting pattern by supporting the Opposition and inflicting the BN its defeat.

Dato' Seri, when the people held street demonstrations you openly dared them to resort to the ballot boxes to demonstrate.

They took your challenge by coming out, especially tho people in the Peninsular, and they demonstrated their feelings by voting us out at the BN at State and Parliament levels.

It is therefore clear that your leadership and your handling of the issues faced by the people and the nation are no longer accepted. Let's not deny the truth just for the sake of keeping your seat as Prime Minister.

For the love of this country and the people, I beg that you take responsibility for the defeat. We can save UMNO, the BN and the nation only if you relinquish your positions as Prime Minister and the President of UMNO.

Dato' Seri, I hope you will understand that I make this plea with the intention of salvaging a very dire situation. A move has been made to woo the BN representatives to join the Opposition. The enemy needs just 35 seats more to topple the government of your leadership.

If you do not resign in the near future, I fear that the situation will become untenable and that the Malay support for Umno and BN will be a thing of the past.

This plea I make without malice, and I am aware that your reaction and that of other UMNO members could very well be hostile.

But come what may, I am prepared, for the sake of the Malays and UMNO, to face the consequences of my action. With all humility, I leave my fate to Allah SWT.

Dato' Seri, I am sure that you will do the right thing for the sake of the people and the nation. May Allah SWT bless you for the sacrifice you make by stepping down.

Wasallam

Yours Sincerely

Mukhriz MahathirJerlun Member Parliament

It seems that Tengku Razaleigh,read here,and here, Rafidah Aziz and a couple of UMNO leaders & veterans had joined the bandwagon in blaming Pat Lah for the thrashing BN received in the 12th GE.

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